History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

66 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. II,

the Pegu teak with which ships were constructed in Bengal. He strongly recommended the Lords of the Admiralty to cause the work to be done at Bombay under the entire supervision of Jamshedji, without any European aid or direction. The reputation of Bombay-built ships had forcibly attracted the attention of the Lords of the Admiralty, who, having seen and admired the Cornwallis, a frigate of fifty guns built at Bombay, determined on the construction of men-of-war in India. It was at first suggested to their Lordships to send out a European builder and shipwrights; but Sir Thomas Trowbridge, who was then a member of the Board of Admiralty and was intimately acquainted with the character and merits of Jamshedji, pledged his word to the Government that he would build not only frigates but ships of the line to their perfect satisfaction without the least European assistance, and orders were accordingly issued for the construction of two frigates and a seventy-four. The Superintendent of Marine at Bombay reported to the Bombay Government the execution of the orders of the Admiralty in these words: “The masterly execution of these orders has nobly redeemed the pledge which that distinguished Admiral gave in England. The frigates of thirty-six guns each have been highly approved of, and the seventy-four rides in this harbour a proud monument

of Jamshedji’s skill in naval architecture, and the